I don't know if that is too much or not but I do know this - my last house had soft close and I loved it. This house doesn't have it and I hate it when I push a drawer closed and it only closes halfway.

And, I might add, you can go here:

https://www.wwhardware.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=+soft+close+drawer+slides

to look at the price of soft close hinges and drawer slides. Compare the cost of those to the number of cabinets you have and that'll let you know if $6000 is too much. I'm betting my arse it is ;)

I remodeled my kitchen recently and love the soft close. Price compare other cabinet lines. But remember cabinets are a multi-decade investment. Buy the best you can afford.

Soft-close is standard with all Ikea cabinetry. Maybe price them quickly (it's easy to do using their free software) and you can buy fronts separately from companies such as The Swedish Door Company.

Anyone who's charging you lots extra may also have a bridge in Brooklyn they'd like to sell. ;)

That seems like a steep price for the upgrade if the soft-close hinges are the only difference.

But I do love mine and I find they save a lot of time because I can gently nudge my doors/drawers and walk away rather than stopping to close each one nicely. I particularly notice it at night when I'm closing up the house and I walk through the kitchen. The kids and Husband inevitably leave every cupboard door open as they go on their nightly water-drinking spree, and I love just walking past and giving each one a swat. (Each cupboard that is, not each kid! ;-D ) I'm on to the next before the last has closed all the way.

Thank you guys for the quick responses! Missi Smith, there are a few small differences between the standard and level 2 - they have a beaded wood edge instead of PVC edge banding. Theres also 3/4” thick wood dovetailed drawer box with full extension undermount glides instead of 5/8” thick wood with 3/4 extension side mount glides. There are also more choices of cabinetry in Level 2 onwards,

I am assuming you are buying from a developer in a tract home. Unfortunately as you are finding out, they profit greatly by over-charging for fairly standard upgrades.

Full extension drawers undermounted drawers are a highly desirable option as they increase the amount of storage as well as providing better access.

As others have posted, soft closure is also highly desirable.

Dovetailed 3/4 inch drawers drawers are also a desirable feature because drawers are often the part of cabinetry which falls apart if not made well. Are the less expensive drawers also dovetail construction?

The problem with buying through a builder is that the charge for these things are more than what you would be charged if you were buying equivalent quality cabinets. I am remodeling with soft closure; full extension undermount and 3/4" dovetail drawers and I know they aren't costing me $6000 more for these options.

I don't much care about the soft close, though it is kind of cool, but wouldn't pay that kind of money unless you're talking a whole lot of drawers.

I would, however pay a fair amount for good quality glides, with or without the soft close. When I build something that calls for glides I use the Blum Tandem full extension glides. There are other companies that make similar quality glides at a similar price. They cost $25-35 a pair, or more for the heavy duty ones if you need to support 150 lbs (unlikely!). The "Blumotion" soft close feature only adds a couple bucks per set.

However, that's 10 to 30 times more expensive than the crapola glides I see in so many cabinets and worth every penny for me. I love drawers that work smoothly and don't break. There is essentially no difference in installation time, with the multidimensional adjustability of the Blum slides perhaps saving time during final fitting.

Even with a very healthy markup I think they are gouging you if they charge more than $100/drawer to go from crapola to top of the line. Upgrading crapola to soft close crapola is absolutely not worth it-- just one more thing that will fail in use.

I did not want euro hinges on my inset doors because I didn’t want the door restrictions. So my kd used exposed barrel hinges, and some kind of bumper on the upper area of frame that makes it soft close without restricting door opening like the euro hinges. Maybe cheaper...not sure but worth checking out.

It sounds like you are buying from a production builder - they always have crazy high markups for upgrades. If the only thing that matters to you between the two grades of cabinets are the soft close hinges, that's something that should be fairly easy to upgrade after you close. The hinges are around $10 or so, drawer slides are around $30ish and even if you don't want to DIY, any decent handyman should be able to replace your existing ones. It's always easier to do these things right at the beginning, but you can always do it down the road. It'll just be more annoying to empty out the drawers, but then it's a good excuse to clean them out!

Soft close hardware does not cost that much. I tell everyone it is about $45 extra per drawer and $10 extra per door.

The builder is putting in a markup and making more than the cabinet company on these upgrades.In stead of wrapping it into your loan see if you can pay the shop directly for this upgrade to avoid a builder mark up.

Thank you guys! Helen, the less expensive drawers do not come with the dovetail drawers. Another thing that comes with the 6000 is you can choose Cherry cabinets/ other painted cabinets instead of the standard in which you can just choose from a few different colors of Maple cabinets,

Ideally, The builder usually gets cabinets at wholesale prices then mark ups to market retail which ends up the similar in price if you were going to buy retail.

It just depends on the builder & how fair they're charges are.

Information is power.

So, I would get a quote from a local cabinet company with a similar product & quality. A lot of cabinets come with soft close these days. Maybe if you get another quote, it will be similar & you'll feel better that it's fair market priced. or you'll get a much lower quote & realize you're being priced gouged. But until you get estimates, facts then compare, it's just guessing.

I'm not familiar with builders contracts & what the contract says about having to get cabinets through them. If the price of the kitchen is so unreasonable then maybe you can negotiate a better situation with the builder.

I recall a past client had to buy cabinets through the builder due to the contract. The builder's prices were crazy. They were very upset then. So, they got the cheapest they could to be done with the builder, then redid it with all the upgrades later. Crazy enough, it was cheaper than buying the upgrade through the builder doing it twice. I'm by no way suggesting this just sharing a story.

I also knew someone who negotiated with a builder to do nothing in the kitchen, & put the funds elsewhere in the home. They got a KD & bought from a local cabinet place. They came out with a great kitchen and better upgrades elsewhere in the home, because the other builder upgrades were more reasonable compared to the current market value.

So, it depends on supply & demand in the area, if the builder is sub-out kitchen work, how much inflating the price, etc. It also depends on the signed contract with the builder.

I again would gather relevant information, unbias similar estimates locally, understand the contract fully, weigh out the pros & cons then you will have facts to negotiate & buy in your favor. You may find it's worth having the builder do it all or not.

Hope that helps.

If you find out anymore info, would be helpful to others to share the experience.

Best of successes.

I built with a production builder and upgrade to soft close cabinets and drawers (all Blum soft close hardware) in kitchen, three baths, and laundry was <$1,000 CAD. Roughly 28 cabinet faces and 25 drawers. Totally worth it, they make a big difference and are nicer on your cabinetry and drawers in the long run.

But sounds like the $6,000 is for a lot more than just soft close so your initial post is a bit confusing so I think is leading to some confused answers (not everyone will read all your follow up posts). I would not pay $6,000 more JUST for soft close.

$6K for soft close, dovetail and plywood sounds like a fair price. But softclose for $6K is ridiculous.

The $6000 upgrade is for a number of useful upgrades as well as design choices.

I personally wouldn’t buy drawers that weren’t 3/4” dovetail construction.

Hardware and finish are what usually fails first on a kitchen cabinet. Sounds like the step up is a real improvement in the hardeware at least? I’d be inclined to pay more for that.

I can't comment on the extra cost, but I would never do without full extension and soft close.

Thank you guys! RaiKai, I agree the original post is a bit confusing, I was confused too! When I wrote that, I wasn’t aware of the other details as I didn’t have all the information, but I got sent all the info a little later. Thanks for all of the suggestions, this has been so helpful!

Soft close is fantastic, I highly recommend it.

Thank you guys for the quick responses! Missi Smith, there are a few small differences between the standard and level 2 - they have a beaded wood edge instead of PVC edge banding. Theres also 3/4” thick wood dovetailed drawer box with full extension undermount glides instead of 5/8” thick wood with 3/4 extension side mount glides. There are also more choices of cabinetry in Level 2 onwards,

Do you know the brand of cabinets?

I absolutely would pay the extra for the sturdier doors, the dovetailed drawers, the full extension drawers, the extra choices, the wood beaded edge and the soft close.

Have you actually started your build yet?

Movie theaters make their "real money" at the concession stand, tract home builders make their real money on up-grades. Unfortunately, most buyers of tract homes haven't any cash reserves and must include the cost of up-grades in the mortgage and are financially raped in the process. Take a long, hard look at the cost of any up-grade, then consider if you can live with "standard" for a few years until you can "up-grade" on your terms.

@chilflipper - I agree with what you are saying but the upgrades described by OP are worth it because it appears the quality of the cabinets is much better and more durable. Quite a bit different than opting for carpet because one can fairly easily replace it with better flooring down the road or a less costly counter because it also is relatively easy to upgrade without paying the obscenely overpriced rates.

I am not sure what the cost differential would be if one bought cabinets directly but I would definitely pay the premium for all of the features of the Level 2 cabinets.

Its overpriced but seems foolish to go with the level 1 cabinets which sound like the cheapest of the cheap. I would ask about the brands used for both. Out of curiosity, do you know what the higher level cabinets get you?

I have all soft close from Ikea it cost 200.00 for the whole kitchen should have gone with Ikea you would have saved tons on the cabinets and the soft close My drawers were an add on you could add at any time you wanted

Have soft close and would NOT have paid extra for it.

After reading the other stats for Level 2, it's the sturdier drawers with full extension glides that I think are important. However, it probably depends somewhat on whether you like to cook or not. If you're not someone who uses the kitchen much maybe it doesn't matter.

It's the sturdier drawers with full extension glides that are absolutely essential. Soft close? It's fine, but wouldn't pay extra for it. But I sure would to get sturdier drawers and I wouldn't buy any cabinet that didn't have full extension glides - you simply can't get stuff that's in the back of the drawer - ridiculous!

Sturdier drawers are definitely a bit asset if you have a heavily used kitchen (and kids and such who may not be as kind to your drawers when you are not around). I don’t and my husband and I are both gentle on our stuff, so that was not important to me (I have MDF) but full extension is definitely nice :)

How long do you plan to be in this home? If more than a few years, I'd definitely pay the extra to get the upgrades for all the reasons others have stated above.

$6K seems like a lot but keep in mind that you're not shelling out that much money upfront. You're amortizing it over the life of your loan. So 6K at 5% for a 30 year loan comes to only $32.21 more a month. If an extra $32 a month won't break you (and if it does, you're already in over your head), do you feel that the better cabinet features and quality is worth that small increase to your monthly costs?

I remember how much I fretted about the extra $300 here and $4K there when we were building more than 24 years ago. I wish I would have looked at the long term picture for these costs because I would have made different choices for a number of them. We backed out hardwood floors in our kitchen to save money. It cost us more than double the builder's allowance to replace the vinyl floors with hard wood when we remodeled our kitchen. We did not come out ahead on that decision.

PS If you're staying put for more than a few years, I'd also pay more to upgrade the base cabinets to drawer bases. Drawers provide more efficient, more functional storage than base cabinets ever will.

lisa_a, brought up a good point...in retrospect it cost more than the builder's allowance to change the floor later.

I would be curious to hear what others think, in retrospect, what IS worthwhile in upgrades when buying a home in the long term.

In regards, to cabinets I would get high quality, durable constructed cabinets. I would invest in solid sturdy drawers. So, they will last longer.

I would never buy thermafoil cabinets ever. The foil can peel & cannot be painted in the future. Plus, it's usually cheap particle board under. I would want solid wood or solid MDF doors.

As for cabinet hardware, avoid plastic wheels. They dry out & break. If I could afford it, I would get the heavy duty, metal hinges & glides with soft close. If the hardware upgrade was crazy expensive, I would get a quote elsewhere on how much a hardware change would cost for 1 door hinge & a 1 pair of drawer slides. I would then count up the # of drawers & doors to know how much it would cost to change them later or if it's worth getting upgrade through builder.

If buying through the builder, I would want to know, when there's a future problem months or years later who, where & how can parts be purchased to fix it.

I would never buy cabinets unless I could see 1 base & 1 wall in person to know what exactly, what will be going in. I would even pay for a sample of both upfront, if there was no local showroom. It would ruin my mood, if I thought I was getting something of high quality, but got stuck with something less inferior.

I would also shop around for hardware. If buying online, just buy 1, test it for durability, scratch resistance, etc. if it passes the test, then buy the rest in confidence.

1 way to save some $ on cabinets, is to find out who the manufacturer is of the cabinet line & if they sell to the public. If that's possible, find out how much the decorative door panels are if you buy direct. They usually cost around $75 +/-each. They add up fast. They are easy to install at a later date. Just attach from the inside of cabinet out to the decorative door.

When buying cabinets, buy 2 touchup kits & store in a climate control environment.

There are 6 levels. Standard, Level 1, Lvl 2, Lvl 3, Lvl 4, Lvl 5. Starting from Level 2, the cabinets are soft closure. However the price to upgrade to this is upwards of 6000 dollars!!

If I understand you correctly, the 6K isn't just for soft close. Here's what I think you're saying:

- You're allowed to choose from six cabinet levels.

- Level 1 cabinets are the cheapest, the bargain basement option, and they include no bells-and-whistles.

- Level 2 cabinets are somewhat nicer. One of the nicer things is that they include soft-close.

- Level 3 cabinets are nicer than level 2 ... and they also include soft-close.

- And so on, and so on, and so on ... but where's level 6?

So, if I understand correctly, "moving up a level" doesn't JUST get you soft-close. It gets you a nicer product.

Without knowing the details, I'd urge you to opt for a mid-level cabinet. In my experience -- for most products -- you don't want the cheapest item. It's usually poor quality and doesn't last. On the other hand, the top-level product is usually more than you really need, and they charge a premium price in an attempt to bilk the people who declare they must have the-best-of-the-best-of-the-best. For most products, the best value tends to be in the mid-range items.

Thank you guys for the quick responses! Missi Smith, there are a few small differences between the standard and level 2 - they have a beaded wood edge instead of PVC edge banding. Theres also 3/4” thick wood dovetailed drawer box with full extension undermount glides instead of 5/8” thick wood with 3/4 extension side mount glides. There are also more choices of cabinetry in Level 2 onwards,

Yeah, okay, differences. The beaded wood edge is a fashion choice, but I'd totally pay more for the full extension glides. I'd also pay more for heavy-duty glides ... those are hard-working parts that (hopefully) will last for decades.

They are trying to rip you off! I hate to say it.....I've said it a number of times on this forum......They are trying to 'maximize' their profits as much as they can. 99.9% of people have 'no' clue what it really cost to build a house. I would do a search on local cabinets makers(they 'actually' make the cabinets.....NO third party!!) in your area(even within 100 miles) and talk to them about pricing. You said it was a high end build, is it custom or a tract builder? Tract builders are the absolutely the worst!!!!!!

I would save and hear the occasional BANG. Use that money elsewhere if needed.

OP - You should change the title of this thread because you are receiving responses based on paying $6000 ONLY for soft close whereas the $6000 is for a number of different upgrades.

The Level 2 cabinets seem to be constructed far better than Level One and IMO superior drawer construction is worth $6000 along with full extension under mount drawers and probably a style that is more pleasing to me.

Of course the builder is making a huge profit on it but that's not the issue. You are a captive audience and cabinets are (at least to me) part of the actual construction of the home. The builder is providing the least expensive crap cabinets baked into the "price" of the home and then profiting because people are going to want or in the case of well constructed cabinetry need to upgrade.

What are the upgrades for cabinets at each level because those are a lot of upgrades.

I wouldn't stint on items that provide increased function and increased duration. However I wouldn't pay for upgrades that are easy to change down the road - counters; flooring choices, faucets etc.

If you’re having to pay 6K to get to a decent cabinet with good specs that include soft close, then the original allowance was very far from realistic to begin with. As usual.

Builders take a 400K model home and put a price on it of 330K, and shove 30K worth of “upgrades” into it that they charge you 70K for, just to make it seem more affordable on the front end.

Allowances are evil. And always too low.

Definitely pay the 6k, since the price includes other upgrades with the soft close.

This is why you never buy a kitchen from a builder. The original bid is for cheap and I mean very cheap cabinets and that how they sell the job then you realize you want a real kitchen that doesn't just look good in a picture.

I wonder how people lived with face frames and standard hinges and wood drawer slides. Funny thing is those are the cabinets that will be around 50 years from now. The soft close on many euro hinges are what causes them to pull from the boxes. Go watch how your hinge flexes as it closes and overcomes the soft close. It is just waiting to fail. Then add most hinges now have one screw on the box side and you understand why they fail.

wannabath, most people buy new homes through production/tract builders and they do not give you a choice to shop for your own cabinets. You either buy everything from them or you do not buy a house from them. Buyers need to do all the research up front before they sign a contract and give the builder a deposit ... many don't seem to do that and end up here asking questions.

ditto what Sophie said again. Allowances are nothing but scams!!!!!! Again.....people have NO clue what it costs to actually build a house and they 'know' this!!!!!!!!

You can add Soft close hinges yourself ..save money !

Didn't realize this. If you know how to use a couple of tools, this would be easy and cheap.

https://www.bing.com/search?q=soft+close+cabinet+hinges&qs=ONR&pq=sofe+close+&sk=ONR1&sc=8-11&cvid=BD1148E94F734CA2AE7F9D51E8FB3C2A&FORM=QBLH&sp=2

Not only soft-close feature dictates the price. Material, finish, and construction of the cabinets and drawers impacts the price also. However, soft close feature is really popular lately and I can see it becoming a standard in the future. If you get good-quality, great looking kitchen cabinets that are going to perform perfectly for you, the high price you're paying right now is going to pay out soon. And I'm sure you'll be happy you didn't miss out on the soft-close feature.

You should definitely invest in soft-close feature if you can afford it. If you're struggling, you can miss out but if you want your kitchen to perform its best for a long time to come, definitely invest in the soft-close mechanism.